Want to learn more about making jang for kimjang? The following post is one of a series that seeks to capture aspects of this verbal tradition in English. The following post focuses on the sauce or ‘jang’. The information is for international families who wish to start their own community kimjang or English-speaking Koreans living abroad who may not have access to traditional information. Let’s dive deep into the information together. About Jang for Kimjang Around the world and across South Korea, you will find hundreds of different kimchi recipes with different jang (장) or dadaeki (다대기). Different factors impact how each family or company makes their jang for kimchi including 1) cost of ingredients, 2) family traditions, 3) local cultural traditions, 4) personal preferences, 5) purpose of kimchi, and more. Kimchi also changes with time as society changes and tastes change. As soon as you think you’ve seen all the jang options, you find a new one and learn all over again. At South of Seoul, we empower our community with the information they need to evolve and change with the times and their personal needs. The English information available online regarding the jang for kimchi often doesn’t include a wider look at the possible jang variations. Therefore, this post takes a deeper dive into information so that we might empower community members to make their own jang in Korea and worldwide. Of course, the first thing we need to do is talk about what jang for kimchi is since many folks might not know yet. What is “Jang” In Korean, jang (장) means sauce. That means that when you hear people talk about “jang” they could be talking about many kinds of sauce. For example, you may have heard of samjang, gochujang, etc. In this article, jang will specifically refer to the daedaeki (sauce made from chili powder) for kimchi. The dadaeki jang acts as the foundation of any “kimjang” event where we make the kimchi for winter. At kimjang, we don’t just make cabbage kimchi. We may also make fruit kimchi, radish kimchi, etc. We want the jang we use at our personal kimjangs to reflect our home and people. It doesn’t have to match anyone else’s tastebuds but our own. However, the jang does need to follow food science so that fermentation occurs in a safe and delicious way. Let’s dig into the elements of the jang used for kimjang. Dadaeki Without a Recipe The first thing you need to know is that most homes do not use a recipe for their dadaeki jang. We live off of vibes when deciding how much of each item we add. Instead of measuring everything out, we constantly taste the sauce until it meets our personal preferences. Everyone pitches in with their thoughts until the jang feels right. Of course, there are some rough measurements. For example, people may use a 2/1 ration of garlic to ginger. However, some people might not even use ginger, so it’s mostly vibes. Reasons exist for why the dadaeki jang at kimjang doesn’t follow a recipe. First of all, every year the ingredients impact the taste differently. Maybe you get salt from a different vendor, or the chili paste is spicier this year. It’s important to adjust for these little changes in the moment. Additionally, the amount of jang you make relates to the size of the cabbages or the number of cabbages. It’s nearly impossible to come up with an exact formula that would make a recipe reliable or useful. Therefore, we recommend taking the time to build a complex understanding of kimchi dadaeki jang. If you can, attend as many different kimjang events as possible while you live in South Korea or watch all the YouTube videos you can find. Also, start making small batches of jang at home and doing mini kimjangs every few months until you develop a sauce profile you really like. It might take a few times before you find the right balance. In short, practice makes perfect. The Science of Dadaeki Jang As we mentioned earlier, making jang is a science. The science behind the jang for kimchi involves aspects of biochemistry, microbiology, and food science. Let’s look at some of the core scientific elements that make the magic happen: Fermentation Process Ingredients Interplay Pro-Tip: You don’t want to use iodized table salt here. You need straight sea salt if at all possible. Sugar and Sweeteners Pro-Tip: If you cut out all the fruit and sugar it impacts the science. Even if you don’t like sugar, it’s needed here for flavor and food safety. 4. pH and Acidity 5. Texture Changes Pro-Tip: Pay close attention to this because you don’t want to use too much salt or too much jang when making your kimchi or it breaks down too much and gets weird. Potential Ingredients in Dadaeki Now that we sort of understand the science, let’s talk about jang ingredients. Remember, jang varies everywhere you go. Women in Korea will argue about the perfect jang if given the chance. Personally, we have participated in different kimjang and witnessed the differences in jang firsthand. We have seen a range of ingredients go into the jang and how the same family might make it a little different each year depending on what ingredients were on sale or what they plan to use the kimchi for during the year. Each time we see it made, we learn a little more about what’s possible. We also learn how the ingredients change the flavor of the kimchi over time. To compile the list of potential jang ingredients in this post we searched many different recipes and videos online. Then, we ran the list past women in our community for their approval. So here we go, presenting the common (and some uncommon) foundational ingredients used in jang. Foundational Ingredients The following foundational ingredients can be found in most jang: Seafood or Meat We said this will be a deep dive into ingredients for kimchi jang and we deliver on that promise. In our kimjang experiences, we have run into some intense jang variations. This lead us to explore what all the seafood and meat options have been used in jang for kimchi. We compiled the following list, please feel free to tell us what we missed. Seafood Ingredients In the preparation of jang for kimchi, various seafood and occasionally meat ingredients can be included to enhance the flavor and aid in the fermentation process. Such ingredients contribute to the umami taste and complexity of the kimchi. Here are some common seafood and meat additions: Meat Ingredients While far from the norm, some variations of kimchi might include meat for added flavor. The only reason I learned about this was through conversations with people in my area. They told me that some people in Pyeongtaek (평택) traditionally use raw beef in their kimchi. This completely caught me off guard and I can’t recommend it because I haven’t seen how it works. However, I feel it’s important to document the use of meats in jang for kimchi in case you come across it unexpectedly. The following meats have been used in jang for kimchi but not often: Dietary Substitutions and Considerations: Of course, some folks don’t or can’t eat seafood or meat. If this is your situation, you have some other options: Optional Ingredients: We have often seen the following items used in different sauces as well. These tend to be included if the prices aren’t too high: The optional ingredients get blended into a paste and mixed with the main vegetable ingredients. Once again, the precise recipe and proportions can vary greatly depending on regional preferences, family recipes, and personal taste. Such diversity in recipes is part of what makes Kimjang and kimchi in general such a rich and varied tradition. Processing the Vegetables and Greens We use a food processor for everything. Depending on what you plan to use your kimchi for later, you may prepare your ingredients differently. For example, at our house we prefer to put everything into the food processor. Using the food processor means that we can more easily use the aged kimchi for making jjigaes. Since we primarily do our own kimjang for this purpose, we choose not to have chunks of radish we need to remove later. Therefore, the first step to getting the sauce started is getting your veggies chopped or processed. Once again, how you chop or process your veggies is something you decide. In the photo below you see the processed radish, ginger, and garlic that we will mix in our jang. Additionally, we used radish greens and green onion. Some people chop their radish and pears into thin strips which make the jang more attractive. Additionally, it can be delicious if you are primarily using the kimchi as a side dish. Kimchi Pul (풀) Some jangs also include pul (풀) which means glue, paste, or grass in Korean. The kimchi pul is a flour and water mixture that helps to mellow the kimchi. SEOYOUNG JUNG from but bburi kichen says that the pul “counteract grassy flavors in the greens, and also provide food for the lactobacillus (speeding up fermentation in seasonal, quickly-consumed kimchi).” we have heard that pul is commonly added to jang made in the Southern parts of Korea. Since we learned about our jang from our older-sister who grew up in Jeju, it’s something we use in our kimchi dadaeki. How to Make Kimchi Pul (풀) It’s hard to find clear documentation of kimchi pul on Google. So let’s quickly talk about how you make pul. Put on a pot of water to boil. Then, mix a few scoops of flour into a separate bowl of cold water. Mix the flour and water thoroughly to avoid lumps. Then dump the flour mixture into the boiling pot of water. Stir regularly until the pot sort of boils up to the top and the liquid thickens a little – kind of like making watery gravy. Types of Flours in Kimchi Pul (풀) Reasons to Include or Exclude Flour Deciding to Use Pul Whether or not to include ‘pul’ in the dadaeki for Kimjang is a matter of personal preference and dietary needs. Each type of flour ‘pul’ brings a unique quality to the paste, influencing the texture, fermentation process, and flavor of the kimchi. The versatility of kimchi preparation allows for a wide range of experimentation, enabling individuals to tailor the recipe to their specific tastes and requirements. Jang Yooksu (육수) To add a strong umami flavor, add a yooksu to the jang. To make the yooksu you boil a pot of water with dried shrimp and dried fish (typically anchovies) until you like the flavor and the vibes. We can’t tell you any exact measurements of this. Just do your best. You want a light soup flavor to the broth which might be hard to envision if you don’t make a lot of soup. This is why attending kimjang really helps get you started on the right path. Also, not everyone uses yooksu in their jang for kimchi. However, it does add that extra something to the kimchi for making jjigae later. We would recommend giving it a try at least once. The following video gives you an idea of what you want to the broth to look like. Also, when you add the yooksu to the jang you need to pour it through a strainer so to take out the dried fish and shrimp. Those don’t go into the jang. Putting the Jang Together Now that we understand the foundational aspects of jang, let’s put it all together. You will make a big spicy sauce you can use make many kinds of kimchi. We’ve used TikTok to show the different parts. Tell Us What We Missed Keep in mind that this blog does not constitute the entirety of knowledge regarding dadaeki for kimjang. This is not our attempt to be … Continue reading Making Jang (장) for Kimjang (김장)